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Top 5 ERI Articles of 2016

I created this list using the Google Analytics for the ERI blog, instead of complicating the process by incorporating stats from LifeNews.com, where many of our articles are later republished.

Our blog received 42,500 unique pageviews from more than 22,000 unique people this year. That’s a 46% decrease in pageviews from last year, which is entirely unsurprising to us, as we purposefully deprioritized writing blog posts this last year while we wrote and edited the Equipped for Life Course, increased our speaking trips, and moved our office across the country. As a comparison, in 2016 we only published 12 articles when we had published 40 articles in 2016! Regular blog posts will be a priority again in 2017, and I fully expect our numbers to jump back up as a result.

Ever since I hired Jacob Nels in 2014, not long after launching ERI, I’ve told him that I want him to continue to occasionally sidewalk counsel. After hearing a lot of what Jacob has to say about the subject, I’ve come to believe that Jacob has come up with some very helpful techniques that would be helpful to other sidewalk counselors. Expect to see more articles and eventually a video addition to the Equipped for Life Course on sidewalk counseling tips. Until then you can hear Jacob share some of his tips in episodes 11 and 12 of the Equipped for Life podcast, both of which will come out this January.

We tell the story of an aggressive protest we experienced at UC Davis and share four other stories of conservatives being censored on college campuses. We then discuss how conservatives should respond to this trend.

While it wasn’t the most read piece on our blog this year, I think it’s the most important piece we published. This content has had a major effect on the way we respond to bodily rights arguments, at least initially in our dialogues. If you only read one article from this list, this should be the one you read.

While watching a roundtable discussion that several Hollywood actors participated in, I heard Will Smith make a relativistic statement. What I thought was more interesting though was that the interviewer asked precisely the right question to push back against his view! It’s worth taking a few minutes to analyze what Will Smith said because his view is, unfortunately, common and it’s helpful to take a close look at the views of those with whom we disagree.

It’s one of the topics that comes up in virtually every conversation about abortion we have with a pro-choice person. I explain some of the ways we handle this topic, in a way that is both sensitive to survivors of rape and doesn’t hold back from communicating truth about the unborn. At the end of the piece I share the best soundbite I’ve ever heard for helping a pro-choice person see what we’re seeing when we think about this topic.

The Three Most Read Posts from Our Archive This Year:

Given that this isn’t a very religious blog, some people are surprised to see a title that appears to be a religious piece. But this isn’t an article about refuting Mormonism. It’s merely an explanation of the six tactics that helped me navigate a 90-minute debate with three Mormons when I didn’t know anything (at the time) about Mormonism! More importantly, these six tactics can also help you have better conversations with pro-choice people, and that’s why we published the article on this blog.

I’ve recently found myself quickly teaching this dialogue tip in virtually every speech that I give. It’s easy to learn the names of the logical fallacies and point them out to people. What’s harder (and far more effective) is being able to help the person see that they committed a fallacy without pointing out the fallacy by name. If you want to become a more skilled conversationalist, I recommend that you work on mastering this tip.

After experiencing this particularly challenging and unusual question in front of a Planned Parenthood facility, I was asked by someone else how to respond to someone who says that they wish they had been aborted. I share some of my own tips as well as some tips we got from other pro-life advocates on our Facebook page.

That’s the list! Thanks again for following our blog this year. I hope it’s been helpful to you as you have potentially life-changing conversations with your pro-choice friends.

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We spent years carefully testing arguments against abortion in thousands of conversations all over the country. We have learned which arguments are the most persuasive to today’s pro-choice advocates. We have learned how to communicate them in ways that they find compelling.

Josh has publicly debated leaders from Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Georgians for Choice, and one of the leading abortion facilities in Atlanta.

He has been happily married to his wife Hannah for ten years. They have three sons, Noah, William, and Eli. They live near Charlotte, North Carolina.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is focused on helping pro-life people be “more persuasive and less weird” when they communicate with pro-choice people. We also write about relational apologetics, because we believe that some pro-choice people will not change their mind after a Facebook debate or a conversation on a college campus; they’ll only change their mind because their friend persuaded them.

If you are pro-life and want practical tips for having effective dialogues with pro-choice people, this blog is for you. If you’re pro-choice and you want to explore pro-life ideas without being called names or having your arguments simplified, you will enjoy this blog, as many other pro-choice people do. Check out our top posts >>

SPEAKING

Josh Brahm speaks on topics related to helping pro-life people have better conversations with pro-choice people. These talks include responding to specific pro-choice arguments as well as talks on relational apologetics. Check his availability here >>